Three more for id, please

[jeremiah]

Three more for id, please.
All Sevenoaks Nature Reserve 11/03/2010.
I think the last one is some sort of a puff-ball dried up from last year, I'm amazed it's still there - I thought fungi just dissolved away.

[Chris Yeates]

Hi

the last one is probably the puffball Lycoperdon pyriforme

with regard to the brackets, it is a useful aid to identification to include a shot of the under-surface - there's nothing wrong with picking a bit and taking a shot of the pores, etc.; can be v. difficult otherwise

cheers

Chris

[Gerel]

Bit of a stab in the dark, but could Stereum hirsutum be a possibility for the top one. It is certainly hairy enough.

Steve

[jeremiah]

Thank you both.

I'm sure I've seen the stump puffballs elsewhere, but they were only marble-sized and closed.

I've looked through the Gallery pictures of Stereum hirsutum, and also google images - most of the pictures show orangey specimens - are the ones in my picture just very young?

Re picking a bit off - I don't like to damage fungi, especially as it seems to give some people satisfaction to treat them like footballs, even on a nature reserve or National Trust property. You'd think visitors to places like that would know better. I'll try to get a picture of the underside another time, though - thanks for the tip.

[Chris Yeates]

hi

the top bracket could well be Bjerkandera adusta, with that greyish resupinate growth form on the surface of the wood

ironically, puff balls (especially the big ones), when ripe would welcome being kicked around, as they often become detached and roll around in the wind, spreading out their spores - I have been known to do it myself

as a general note the considerate picking a bit of the fruiting body of a fungus (or a few fruit-bodies from a group) for examination at home is as destructive to the fungus as picking blackberries is to a bramble bush; the main way in which fungal rarities will be identified, which can then lead to added protection for a site, is by such 'lab' work at home - it's more analagous to how entomologists work than how botanists work (let's be honest, plants are relatively easy to identify in the field )

cheers

Chris